On Monday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order allowing companies that do business with the federal government to avoid disclosing past instances of discrimination or violating labor laws.
Trump’s order rescinds an Obama-era executive order that required companies with federal contracts to report whether they have been found liable for violations of any labor laws or executive orders, including those that prohibit discrimination against protected classes of people, including LGBTQ individuals. The executive order also instructed federal officials to consider those violations when awarding contracts.
LGBTQ legal advocacy organization Lambda Legal slammed Trump for rescinding Obama’s executive order. The group’s CEO, Rachel Tiven, called the now-rescinded regulations in the order a valuable enforcement tool intended to hold employers responsible for violations of nondiscrimination laws. She also encouraged LGBTQ employees of federal contractors, and those with HIV, to contact the organization if they believe their rights have been discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or HIV status.
“This sends a message that the government condones discrimination,” Tiven said of Trump’s actions. “Scrapping an order like this one is different than not adopting one. It’s not surprising given Donald Trump’s sordid history with women that this administration is allowing companies to hide sex discrimination — including sexual harassment.
“Furthermore,” Tiven added, “this administration is inviting businesses to the table that violate equal pay and fair wage laws, ignore laws requiring family medical leave, or target employees for discrimination based on race, sex, gender identity, gender non-conformity (including being gay or lesbian), disability (including HIV), and numerous other grounds. All of these things violate the law. Companies that flout the law should be sued — not invited to win our tax dollars.”
The state of South Dakota has issued an apology letter and paid $300,000 to a transgender advocacy group for abruptly canceling a state Department of Health contract with the group.
The payment and apology are part of an agreement reached between South Dakota and The Transformation Project to settle a federal lawsuit alleging that the state discriminated against the organization in violation of provisions contained in the Affordable Care Act prohibiting anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
The Transformation Project had signed a $136,000 contract with the state, paid for with federal funds, to provide community health worker services to the LGBTQ community from its Sioux Falls headquarters.
The owners of a Buffalo-area pizzeria recently agreed to pay $25,000 to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of a transgender man formerly employed by the restaurant.
Last month, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which brought the lawsuit against T.C. Wheelers Bar & Pizzeria, in Tonawanda, N.Y., on behalf of former cook Quinn Gambino, announced the settlement agreement.
The lawsuit stemmed from verbal harassment and abuse that Gambino was subjected to from restaurant managers and co-workers between January and May 2021.
According to the EEOC's lawsuit, the owners and staff of the restaurant -- as well as customers -- repeatedly misgendered Gambino, who noted that he was male and did not reveal his transgender status when he first applied for the job.
The Ohio Department of Health rolled back several rules and regulations that would have restricted access to gender-affirming medical care for transgender adults.
In January, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine directed the department and the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to file rules for public comment to ensure that individuals do not pursue a gender transition hastily.
DeWine's order served as a concession to opponents of gender-affirming care after he vetoed a bill that would prohibit doctors from prescribing gender-affirming treatments to transgender minors.
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